


nor can imagination form a shape, besides yourself

by plain_and_simple_tailor (ectogeo)



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: (however my tweaks to canon do make it even less consensual than it was in the show), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cardassian hand kisses, Dubcon Kissing, Episode Related, Episode: s01e16 If Wishes Were Horses, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Non-Consensual Kissing, as per canon, it's the imagination aliens that don't have consent, the garashir is not dubcon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:14:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26401747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ectogeo/pseuds/plain_and_simple_tailor
Summary: After waking up from a pleasant dream to find it has become an unpleasant reality, Julian gets jealous when he sees Garak on a date. (Set during If Wishes Were Horses.)
Relationships: Julian Bashir/Elim Garak
Comments: 11
Kudos: 61





	nor can imagination form a shape, besides yourself

**Author's Note:**

> I read a really good Garashir If Wishes Were Horses fic recently that inspired me to do my own take on that episode! The fic was [“A Whole New Kind Of Chocolate”](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26153494) by [Sasa_Q](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sasa_Q/pseuds/Sasa_Q).

*

 _“I would not wish_ _any companion in the world but you,_ _nor can imagination form a shape,_ _besides yourself, to like of_ _._ ”

- _The Tempest_ , William Shakespeare

*

He awoke to Jadzia kissing him, something that was normally limited to his dreams. Including the dream he’d just been having... He hadn't had too many dreams like this about her recently, but his unconscious brain unfortunately didn’t really give him a say about which of his friends he would imagine kissing as he slept. But no, he was awake now, and this Jadzia was definitely here in reality.

Though her kiss certainly felt real, it didn’t make any sense. They had just had lunch together yesterday, during which Jadzia had been very clear she wasn’t interested in him in any way besides friendship, which he’d fully understood and accepted. He was long over his intense but fleeting crush on her anyway—besides, he’d had his eyes on someone else for a while, as he’d explained to her, his cheeks flushing.

Once he’d let that confession slip, her demeanor had instantly changed from calm detachment to gleeful mischief, and she’d spent the rest of their lunch trying to tease out more information about Julian’s new crush. He knew better than to give anything away, lest his feelings become stationwide gossip before he’d even gotten the chance to tell the subject of his affections. Luckily, Garak had recently been teaching Julian all kinds of techniques for misdirecting and deflecting interrogative personal questions—mostly by example, that slippery evasive Cardassian!—and so Julian was able to survive the rest of the conversation without revealing very much.

So he just didn’t understand why she was acting this way now, creeping into his bed and kissing him awake, when they’d both been so clear about their lack of feelings for each other yesterday. Was it a ploy to get him to tell her more about his crush? No, that wouldn’t make any sense. Or maybe it was her idea of a joke? But if so he didn’t really get it...

 _“All senior officers report to Ops immediately,”_ Kira barked out over the combadge suddenly.

Julian finally managed to squirm out of Jadzia’s clinging grasp. Once free, he threw on his uniform, and they rushed out of his quarters to head to Ops.

They walked briskly through the corridors. Jadzia was still dangling from his arm and occasionally tried to persuade him to come back to bed. It was more than a little uncomfortable. He decided that on the way to Ops, he had to make a quick detour to the Infirmary to grab a medkit so he could scan Jadzia and figure out what was wrong with her.

The turbolift dropped them off at the lower level of the Promenade. As they started walking toward the Infirmary, something unusual caught Julian’s eye in the Replimat, and his breath caught in his throat. Garak was having breakfast with someone, though Julian couldn’t really see who it was, as Garak’s companion had his back to him. A man, with short brown hair. He was clearly human or Bajoran, but his outfit had a distinctively Cardassian look to it. Odd.

Garak was positively smiling, and he reached out to hold the man’s hand. That was strange indeed! Julian knew from the handful of Cardassian novels that he’d read so far that pressing palms together was quite an intimate gesture of affection for Cardassians, something like a kiss on the cheek. When had Garak started dating this man? Suddenly Julian wanted nothing more than to find out why Garak had been keeping his boyfriend a secret from him, and whether he had any right at all to feel so jealous about it.

Jadzia sighed, rolled her eyes, said, “See you in Ops,” and vanished into the crowd. Julian barely noticed her disappearance as he walked single-mindedly toward his friend’s table.

Garak laughed at something his partner had just said, and then interlaced their fingers tightly together. Julian felt like his internal organs were all tangled up and in the wrong places.

Garak saw Julian approaching, and the laughter in his eyes turned into alarm. Julian stopped in his tracks, hurt by this reaction.

When Garak’s partner turned to see what had affected him, Julian suddenly understood Garak’s panic—Julian was staring at his own face. Or a very good likeness of it, anyway.

“Bashir to Ops,” he said into his combadge as he resumed weaving between tables in the Replimat.

_“Go ahead.”_

“Is anyone in need of immediate medical attention in Ops or on the station?”

“ _Negative._ ”

“Then I’ll be a few minutes late... There’s a situation I need to investigate on the Promenade. Let me know if there’s a medical emergency.”

_“Acknowledged, but get here as soon as you can.”_

“I will. Bashir out,” Julian said, cutting off the comm link just as he arrived at the table where Garak was apparently on a date with an exact replica of him. “Garak! What’s going on?”

Garak realized he was still tenderly holding the other Julian’s hand, and dropped it.

“I’m not entirely sure...” He was glancing back and forth between the two Julians, uncertain, and not liking any of the possibilities.

“Well, who is this, and why does he look like me?”

“I could ask the same of you!” said the other Julian, angrily.

Julian pointedly ignored his doppelganger and spoke directly to Garak. “Is he a hologram? A clone? A visitor from a parallel universe? A copy from a transporter malfunction? Someone surgically altered to look like me?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea, my dear doctors,” Garak said, addressing them both diplomatically.

“Why were you holding his hand?” _And why have you never held MY hand before?_

“Because he’s my boyfriend and we’re in love!” the other Julian announced dramatically, standing up. Garak looked down at his hands guiltily. The knot of jealousy in Julian’s stomach tightened. He couldn’t believe he felt jealous of, well, himself.

The replica placed himself between Julian and Garak and stared down the original Julian, seemingly trying to intimidate him. Julian and his impostor were exactly the same height, and it really was like looking in a mirror. As Julian tried to look past him to see Garak, his doppelganger spread out his arms and kept repositioning himself to block their view of each other. It was completely ridiculous, and he had never wanted to punch himself in the smug face more than he did right now. He didn’t blame Garak for being fooled by his appearance, but his double didn’t behave like him at all.

Garak was now stammering defensively. “Well, I... Look, he— _you_ —came over to my table just now to tell me he likes me and ask me out, and how could I refuse such a tempting offer...” Garak looked so embarrassed.

Julian blinked. That was it? That was how easy it would have been? No elaborate but subtle Cardassian courting rituals? No years of effort spent analyzing and interpreting all of his mysterious hints and clues and innuendos? No careful planning and patience and accidental cultural misunderstandings as the two of them tentatively navigated the uncharted waters of their feelings for each other? Garak really just wanted to be asked out directly?

Julian was beginning to understand how Garak could have been fooled. The fake Julian told Garak exactly what he wanted to hear, such that Garak didn’t _want_ to question it, even in the face of bizarre behavior. The most frustrating thing was that Julian would have loved to fulfill Garak’s wish, if he’d had any idea that they both wanted the same thing.

“Oh, Garak... if I had only known it would be that simple, and that you would return my feelings, I would have asked you out already. Truly! I think I got so caught up in the intrigue—the _mystery!_ —of you that I guess I didn’t think a straightforward approach would even work.”

“Well, you missed your chance, he’s mine now!” The fake Julian tried to sit in Garak’s lap possessively, but Garak held up his arms to keep him away.

“Please, stay away from me,” Garak said to the fake Julian. “I don’t know who you are, but you’re only a dim facsimile of the Julian Bashir I fell for, and I don’t want you here.”

The Julian who was leaning on Garak vanished, and Garak was suddenly holding up nothing. They both stared at the newly empty space, stunned for a moment. Julian felt flooded with relief. He almost wanted to laugh.

Garak finally lowered his arms. “I’m so sorry, my dear. I don’t know what’s going on, but I can’t believe I was tricked for even a second.”

“It’s all right. I mean, now that he’s gone—whatever he was—it’s all kind of flattering, really? Basically, it tells me that you took one look at me and all of your composure and caution and spy training went right out the airlock,” he grinned.

“I assure you that I am only a simple tailor—” Garak protested.

“Hmmm, whatever you say,” Julian chuckled.

“—but yes, unfortunately you’re right, you do seem to have... a certain effect on me.”

“Well, now that I know how wonderfully _compromised_ you are, I may have to use that to my advantage,” Julian said fondly. Garak’s cheeks flushed slightly blue, just under the lower curve of his eye ridges. The effect was stunning and Julian wanted to just stare at him for hours and lose himself in the study of his face. “I really have to go to Ops now, but... will you go out to dinner with me tonight? 1900 hours at the Klingon restaurant?”

“Of course! But let’s say... 1800 at the Bajoran seafood place?” Garak negotiated.

“All right!”

“And... how will I know if it’s the real you?” Garak asked, genuinely concerned.

“What if we had secret passwords for each other?” Julian suggested.

“That could work.”

Julian thought for a moment, and settled on a line from _The Tempest_ , since they had just read, discussed, analyzed, and had a passionate argument about their interpretations of the play earlier this week.

When Julian leaned down and whispered in Garak’s ear, “ _I would not wish any companion in the world but you,_ ” he meant every word of it.

Garak smiled somehow even more blissfully than he had been earlier. Garak cupped his hands to block the view of lip readers as he leaned in close to Julian’s ear.

“ _The very instant that I saw you, did_ _my heart fly to your service_ _,_ ” Garak replied softly. Julian felt tingly as Garak’s breath danced across his skin, and his heart fluttered uncontrollably at the thought that Garak had fallen for him at first sight.

As desperately as he wanted to stay here exchanging Shakespearean professions of love with Garak, he was expected in Ops—and he had been expected there for quite awhile, he suddenly realized, as if waking from a reverie. But he couldn’t just leave without saying goodbye...

Julian held out his palm to Garak, who eagerly met it with his own.

“See you tonight!” Julian said, more excited than he could ever remember being.

“I look forward to it, my dear.”

He lingered there for another heartbeat or two, and then finally pulled himself away from Garak, and made his way to Ops with a skip in his step. He hoped he wouldn’t get in trouble for being so late, and he wondered excitedly if the senior staff would even believe him when he told them what had just happened.

**Author's Note:**

> Julian at any normal time when he should really be on duty in the infirmary: *sprints to Ops just to gossip*
> 
> Julian during an actual crisis: *shows up to Ops an hour late holding a Replimat pumpkin spice raktajino and dinner plans with his new boyfriend*
> 
> I'm so excited I finally found a way to get these two to gratuitously quote Shakespeare at each other! The line that Garak picked as his password is also from The Tempest. These two dorks are quoting from the discussion during which Miranda and Ferdinand profess their love to each other and then decide to get married, so, like, jot that down
> 
> Anyway, I totally retconned the lunch convo with Jadzia to be more to my taste, and also I decided the imagination aliens would have a hard time telling the difference between a random unasked for sex dream about your hot Trill friend you used to like, and, like, an actual desire for romance.
> 
> I put in hints that fake!Julian was fake, but I didn’t really have an idea for how Garak would figure out for certain that real!Julian was actually real, so I just glossed over that aspect and tried to make fake!Julian behave extra silly... ~~But if you have an idea for how to hint to Garak that real!Julian is real, please let me know, and I might rewrite this fic a bit to include it!~~ (Edited on 10/1 to add: Actually never mind, I realized I have moved onto other projects and don't really feel like working on this fic anymore now that I've posted it, so I'm just leaving it as is. But thanks if you gave me a suggestion!)
> 
> Thanks for reading!!! <3


End file.
